Rubbish Island, The Thilafushi Island

Thilafushi Island (Image Credit:bagusjuga.com)

Ever heard of Rabbish Island? Yes, the island which filled with mounds of garbage around everywhere. The island is The Thilafushi Island located in the State Maldives about 7 kilometers from the center of the capital. It is an artificial island created 20 years ago from coral reefs, but the conditions have changed lately. So much garbage dumped into the island until the garbage is not accommodated anymore and there is some spill over into the lagoon around the island.

This is compounded by the boats that used to haul garbage to the dump garbage Thilafushi Island in the lagoon because many of the workers do not have to wait patiently for hours to unload on land. According to the Environmental Protection Agency Maldives, Ibrahim Naeem, this is caused by technical obstacles so that the unloading process has been delayed.

He emphasized that The Thilafushi Island has not been filled completely. The authorities, continued Naeem, also fix garbage disposal system and prohibit the burning of garbage in the open. Boat carrying garbage from the islands around for a while is prohibited until the lagoon cleanup is finished. The officers began cleaning up "garbage hills" which mostly comes from the luxury hotels. Waste from all over the Maldives transported to the island to then be burned, buried, or special recycled plastics and metals

The Thilafushi Island condition is obviously much different from the tourist areas of sandy white beaches and blue sea. A number of people who've been there say mountain of garbage seen everywhere and smog constantly visible.

In addition to waste handler who does not go over, the government also considered slow to realize the program of bio-fuels facilities. It was raised by an environmental activist Maldives (Blue Peace), Ahkmed Ikram. Toxic waste from the Island, potentially to be polluted the surrounding sea especially where there are also repair boats that can also produce toxic waste.